Students help restock Pequonnock with trout

Linda Conner Lambeck

Updated 8:07 am, Saturday, October 19, 2013

From left; Bridge Academy students Tiore Phillips, 12, Tamia Bagley, 13, and Andre Wilson, 13, all of Bridgeport, release Brook Trout into the Pequonnock River with the help of Beardsley Zoo educator Gian Morresi at Beardsley Park in Bridgeport, Conn. on Thursday, October 17, 2013. The school, along with fellow charter school Park City Prep, spent the last year raising the trout as part of a conservation and education program called 'Trout in the Classroom'.
Photo: Brian A. Pounds

Twin sisters and Bridge Academy students Tiore Phillips, left, and Toni Phillips, 12, of Bridgeport, put on waders as they prepare to release Brook Trout into the Pequonnock River at Beardsley Park in Bridgeport, Conn. on Thursday, October 17, 2013. The school, along with fellow charter school Park City Prep, spent the last year raising the trout as part of a conservation and education program called 'Trout in the Classroom'.
Photo: Brian A. Pounds

Brook Trout are transported in bucket of water before being released into the the Pequonnock River in Beardsley Park in Bridgeport, Conn. on Thursday, October 17, 2013. The fish were raised at Bridgeport charter schools Bridge Academy and Park City Prep as part of a conservation and education program called 'Trout in the Classroom'.
Photo: Brian A. Pounds

Beardsley Zoo educator Gian Morresi, right, leads students from charter schools Bridge Academy and Park City Prep in a cheer as they release Brook Trout into the Pequonnock River in Beardsley Park in Bridgeport, Conn. on Thursday, October 17, 2013. The schools spent the last year raising the trout as part of a conservation and education program called 'Trout in the Classroom'.
Photo: Brian A. Pounds

BRIDGEPORT -- Bending over in calf-high water in the Pequonnock River and trying to keep her balance on slippery rocks, 13-year-old Cherish Johnson clutched a waterproof camera, waiting for the first of 23 brook trout to emerge from a half-dozen plastic orange buckets.

It took a while before the slender, 6-inch long fingerlings slipped into the cool stream and disappeared.

"I've learned to be patient," Juvaugh Lee, another wader-wearing eighth-grader, said from a couple of feet away.

Part of a Trout in the Classroom program taught by education staff at Connecticut's Beardsley Zoo, Thursday's trout release was the culmination of a yearlong program that started last year with a different set of students.

The idea, said Gregg Dancho, director of the zoo, is to expose Bridgeport-area students to conservation and environmental issues.

They learn about water chemistry, how to test for ammonia and water temperature and about stream habitat.

"I learned how they get around," Andre Wilson, 13, said of the trout. "They hide. They eat bugs."

Carlos Velez, 12, said he learned about fish anatomy and endangered species.

That the trout, now tan and spotted, did not immediately jump at their newfound freedom in the Beardsley Park stream didn't surprise Wilson.

"They were (hatched) in cages, are used to being fed. This is a new temperature for them," he said.

Brook trout are native to New England and historically thrived in the Pequonnock River. Over time, their numbers have dwindled. By reintroducing them to the river, environmentalists can gauge the river's current health.